Fouke Elementary School, Fouke AR

Original Research by School Decision on Fouke Elementary School

Fouke Elementary School serves students from prekindergarten through fifth grade in the Fouke School District, a single-district town in rural Miller County, Arkansas. The town of Fouke is a small, incorporated city with a population that has been essentially flat to slightly declining over the past two decades, and its economy has historically been tied to farming, timber, and commuting to military installations near Texarkana. The school district is the town’s largest employer, giving the school a central role in community life.

The student body at Fouke Elementary is predominantly white, with a much smaller share of students who identify as two or more races, Hispanic, American Indian or Alaska Native, or Black. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price meals. The school is not a charter school and does not have magnet status.

On the Arkansas ATLAS assessments for the most recent school year, Fouke Elementary students showed a pattern of results that varied by subject and grade level. In third-grade math and reading, outcomes were at a level that many families would consider solid. In fourth and fifth grades, in both math and reading, proficiency rates were lower than in third grade. The same pattern appears in science, where the third-grade result was higher than what the fourth- and fifth-grade cohorts showed. A parent looking at these results might want to ask the school about how it supports students as they move through the upper elementary grades, particularly in the subjects where the numbers are softer.

The school’s overall proficiency index, which combines performance across grades and subjects, sits below the midpoint when compared with other districts in Miller County. The county comparison set includes three districts total, so the field is small. State testing data is reported for grades three through five; because the school serves prekindergarten through fifth grade, the earlier grades are not tested.

Information on course access, staffing, discipline, and attendance was not available in the data provided, nor were detailed program offerings. The district brief turned up little in the way of recent major changes or strategic initiatives, so that dimension is absent from this account rather than guessed at.

The housing market in the area around the school reflects a modest cost of living compared with national benchmarks. Home values have seen a slight year-over-year dip, and the estimated monthly mortgage on a typical home is moderate relative to the national median household income. The estimated rent-to-income ratio is also moderate, suggesting that housing expenses are not out of line with typical local earnings. The national unemployment rate at the time of this data was moderate.

For a family considering Fouke Elementary, the picture is that of a small rural school with a high-needs student population and a profile on state assessments that shows some strength in the early grades but weaker results by fourth and fifth grade. The school is deeply embedded in a small town where it functions as a major employer and civic anchor. The absence of detailed information on programs, staffing, and discipline means a parent likely needs to visit and ask direct questions to understand the day-to-day experience for their child.

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Academic performance

How students perform on state tests, by grade, set against the district.

Math

Grade 360%

School 60% · District 60%

▲ 23 pts above state median

Grade 429%

School 29% · District 29%

▼ 11 pts below state median

Grade 526%

School 26% · District 26%

▼ 7 pts below state median

English language arts

Grade 342%

School 42% · District 42%

▲ 9 pts above state median

Grade 418%

School 18% · District 18%

▼ 19 pts below state median

Grade 525%

School 25% · District 25%

▼ 8 pts below state median

Science

Grade 345%

School 45% · District 45%

▲ 8 pts above state median

Grade 426%

School 26% · District 26%

▼ 10 pts below state median

Grade 526%

School 26% · District 26%

▼ 7 pts below state median

This schoolFOUKE SCHOOL DISTRICT, same grade

Graduation rate (ACGR) reflects the federally published Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate for the most recent year available. We refresh this data annually at the close of each academic year in June. The federal source publishes a banded rate (for example, "90-94%") instead of an exact number for cohorts small enough to risk identifying individual students. The state distribution chart, where shown, plots every school in the state with a published rate or band; schools whose rate is federally suppressed are excluded. Where the federal source publishes a band rather than an exact rate, the school is placed within its band using a stable, ID-derived offset, so its position is consistent across visits.

Proficiency by household income

English language arts

Grade 3Lower-income15%Higher-income47%32 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income24%Higher-income39%15 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income31%Higher-income44%14 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income27%Higher-income53%26 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income18%Higher-income27%10 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income49%Higher-income39%10 pp gap